Apple Airs Two New iPad Commercials

Apple has two new fun and lively iPad commercials running on broadcast and cable networks. In each ad you see a rapid-fire series of words, each followed by a rapid display of specific apps. Its "Alive" spot, for example, includes the words awake, grow, shine, friend, Sunday, heart, flip, wave, and many more, so fast you hardly see them. It then pauses on "loud," followed by snippets of apps related to a sound, including AmpliTude and GarageBand. Then it repeats the same sequence with the words "deep" and "alive."

The "Together" spot is identical, but with different words and different snippets of apps. It pauses on the words "wild," "bright," and "together."

Each ad includes both the fourth generation iPad and the iPad mini. I think they're delightful and effective and are obviously touting the iPad's huge app library — with more than 300,000 apps tailored specifically for the larger screen of the iPad. This far exceeds the availability of apps for Android tablets, which often make do with stretching phone apps in order to accommodate the larger screen.

According to AppleInsider, Apple also has rolled a series of billboard ads, and again, the theme is apps. Each billboard features a word or phrase such as "mind watering," "ear opening," "elementary," and "well versed." And each is illustrated with two apps. The tagline on all the billboard ads is, "300,000 apps for everything you love."

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Jim Karpen holds a Ph.D. in literature and writing, and has a love of gizmos. His doctoral dissertation focused on the revolutionary consequences of digital technologies and anticipated some of the developments taking place in the industry today. Jim has been writing about the Internet and technology since 1994 and has been using Apple's visionary products for decades.